1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to machines for stripping materials, such as adhesive bonded floor coverings from floor surfaces, and more particularly to a machine of this type incorporating an electric motor drive system for moving the machine""s cutting head in an orbital pattern and a hydraulic system for driving its wheels and thereby allowing an easier to control, variable speed machine for floor stripping.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,162,809 issued Jul. 31, 1979 for a motorized carpet and tile stripping machine that comprises a box-like housing mounted on a pair of wheels disposed near the rear of the housing and a cutting blade projecting outwardly from the front of the housing and adapted to engage the ground beneath a floor covering adhesively bonded to the floor. Supported on an upper deck of the housing is an electric motor whose output shaft is coupled to the machine""s cutting head by means of an eccentric drive shaft such that the cutting head is made to move in an orbital or elliptical pattern. An elongated handle is affixed to the upper deck of the housing and slopes rearward and upward terminating in handle grips. However the stripper had to be propelled by the force applied to the handles by a user. The strippers were heavy and hard to handle.
Self-propelled floor stripping machines such U.S. Pat. No. 6,135,566 issued on Oct. 24, 2000 were introduced to provide powered drive wheels reducing the user""s task to steering the floor stripper machine instead of pushing and steering. However there were several drawbacks to the self-propelled floor stripping machine. The speed of the floor stripping machine was not easily changed, a belt would have to be moved to a different diameter portion of a pulley wheel leading into a gear reduction box to change the speed and there were only 3 speeds to select from. The floor stripper would have to be shut off to switch from forward to reverse. The floor stripper did not have a neutral to disengage the drive wheels so that the machine could be easily pushed. Additionally the floor stripper did not have a safety feature to stop the machine in case it was meeting a high resistance such as from snagging or getting caught on something.
Further a clutch mechanism was required to operate the wheels in conjunction with the cutting head member, which would cause jerky starts. Numerous gears, belts, bearings and drive shafts were needed to provide power to the drive wheels. All these parts where difficult to assemble, and keep in repair. Further they were noisy and reduced the power actually delivered to the drive wheels making the stripper less power efficient.
The self-propelled floor stripping machine provides a hydraulic motor for easily selecting a speed for the self-propelled floor stripping machine as well as providing for forward and reverse direction controls without having to stop the machine to change belts, drums or make other mechanical changes. The hydraulic motor provides power to the drive wheels of the floor stripper while the electric motor provides power to the continuously operating cutting head member. The electric motor also drives a hydraulic pump for operating the hydraulic motor. The hydraulic system replaces the cumbersome clutch, gears, pulleys, belts, bearings drive shafts and other mechanical drive mechanism parts of prior self-propelled floor stripping machines and improves the ease of use of the machine. The hydraulically driven self-propelled floor stripping machine can select from a continuum of forward or reverse speeds by opening or closing a valve. The self-propelled floor stripping machine can be set to neutral allowing the drive wheels to spin freely thus allowing the self-propelled floor stripping machine to be wheeled easily by the user.
The hydraulic system uses less electricity than a mechanical system which is of benefit where the capacity of electric power is limited at a site. Further the hydraulic self-propelled floor stripping machine helps conserve electrical energy and costs less to operate.
The hydraulic self-propelled floor stripping machine has a safety feature where a hydraulic valve can open for stopping the machine when it encounters a high resistance and protect parts from being overstressed.
It is an object of the invention to provide a variable speed self-propelled floor-stripping machine with a continuum of speeds to select from.
It is an object of the invention to provide a self-propelled floor stripping machine which is easily changed from forward to reverse without shutting the machine off.
It is an object of the invention to provide self-propelled floor-stripping machine with a neutral drive wheel feature to move the machine easily without power.
It is an object of the invention to provide a safety value in the hydraulics to prevent the machine from use of excessive force when engaging an object.
It is an object of the invention to provide a hydraulic safety valve to protect the machine from being overstressed.
It is an object of the invention to provide a machine that operates with lower electrical power consumption.
It is an object of the invention to provide a hydraulically powered floor stripping machine.
It is an object of the invention to provide a quieter floor stripping machine.
It is an object of the invention to provide a lower cost floor stripping machine.
It is an object of the invention to provide a more reliable floor stripping machine.
It is an object of the invention to provide a longer lasting floor stripping machine.
It is an object of the invention to eliminate clutches and other mechanical parts in a floor stripping machine.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.